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NEW YORK

Wolfe, 60, found her solution about a month ago: an electric bicycle. It gets her to work quickly, is easy on her arthritis and is better against the environment than a car.

“I’m not outright to win any races,” she declared. “I want to get a little fresh air and exercise, and cut my carbon footprint, and spend less money on gas. And where I live, I can ride my bike seven months out of the year.”

The surging cost of gasoline and a inclination for a greener commute are turning more people to electric bikes as an unconventional form of transportation. They part like a typical two-wheeler, except with a battery-powered assist. Bike dealers, riders and experts utter they are flying off the racks.

Estimated sales

Official sales figures are hard to pin along the course of, further the Gluskin-Townley Group, which does market research for the National Bicycle Dealers Association, estimates 10,000 charged with electricity bikes were sold in the U.S. in 2007, up from 6,000 in 2006.

Bert Cebular, who owns the electric bike and scooter dealership NYCeWheels in New York, said his sales are up from one place to another 50 percent so far this year over final. Amazon.com says sales of charged with electricity bikes desire surged greater quantity than 6,000 percent in July from a year earlier, in part because of its expanded offerings.

“The electric bikes are the next big thing,” said Frank Jamerson, a former General Motors Corp. executive turned electric-vehicle guru.

They’re even more accepted in Europe, where Sophie Nenner, who opened a Paris bike store in 2005, says motorists boxed in by traffic jams are looking for alternative for short journeys that don’t involve navigating overcrowded transport systems. Industry associations estimate 89,000 electric bikes were sold in the Netherlands last year, while 60,000 power-assisted bikes were sold in Germany.

The principle behind electric bikes is consanguineal to that behind hybrid cars: Combine conventional technology

The net come is a instrument that rides a bridle-bit like a scooter, with some legwork required. Most models have a motorcycle-like throttle that gives riders a boost at the same time that going up hills or accelerating from a stop. On more models, the motor kicks in automatically and adjusts its torque based on for what cause hard the rider pedals.

Although regulations vary by state, federal jurisprudence classifies electric bikes during the time that bicycles, and not at all license or registration is required as long as they don’t be of use faster than 20 mph and their power doesn’t exceed 750 watts. Price largely determines mode of estimating weight, nobility and battery type. A few hundred dollars gets you an IZIP mount bike from Amazon with a heavy lead-acid battery. For $1,400, you can corrupt a 250-watt fold bike powered by a more-powerful, longer-lasting nickel-metal hydride battery like those in a camera or a Toyota Prius. At the high end, $2,525 buys an extra-light 350-watt model sporting a lightweight lithium-ion battery similar to a laptop’s.

Most models can proceed at least 20 miles before plugging in to recharge, and fully recharging the battery on a typical mould costs less than a dime.

Word-of-mouth

Bike dealers before-mentioned the growing demand goes on the other side of just the uptick in gas prices, but also because of word-of-mouth. Cebular, the dealership owner, declared business at his store and Web site has been booming.

“Fifty percent of that enlarge is to all appearance because of gas prices, and the rest is that there’s just more bikes out there,” said Cebular, who has run his shop on Manhattan’s Upper East Side for seven years. Improved technology in like manner has made full of fire bikes greater quantity familiar, Cebular said.

“When I started, in that place was only human being bike that had a nickel-metal hydride battery

Aimed at the U.S.

Ultra Motor, some electric bike and scooter copartnership based in England, is betting big that it can capitalize on what it sees as a growing market for attractive-looking two-wheelers designed specifically for U.S. commuters. On Tuesday, the company unveiled its “A2B” model, a slick, low-riding electric bike. It took a customary bicycle and redesigned it through fatter wheels, a lower center of gravity and a thick shaft designed to hide the lithium-ion battery inside, U.S. Chief Executive Chris Deyo said. The proceed is a cross betwixt a motorcycle and a mountain bike.

The company has signed up 75 dealers nationwide to sell the $2,500 bike starting next month.

“A year ago, when you mentioned the word ‘electric bike,’ people looked at you and they really weren’t sure what it was,” Deyo said. “Today, what we’re finding is we’re actually having dealers call us seeking an electric bike to meet the demand.”

Given soaring fuel prices and thinning endurance with foreign dependence forward oil, Americans are ready to embrace electric vehicles, he said. “The the people at large needs to understand that it is the suitable thing to do to move to electric transportation, and electric bikes and relating to electricity scooters will grant you to do that, to get that familiarity.”

A tree-hugger’s felicity

As for Wolfe, she could not be happier through her bicycle, a 48-pound mountain bike by a lithium-ion-powered assist made by California-based IZIP. A self-described “tree-hugger for decades,” she drives her Honda Insight mongrel car or rides the bus which time she’s not using her bike to get to work.

She also powers her home with help from a set of rooftop solar panels, and a geothermal furnace heats and cools it. The furnace, she adds, even heats her water. Just one more way to reduce emissions, she said. “Even my 92-year-old mother has a Prius,” she said. “So I come by my green testimonials genetically.”